Apparently Earache was so impressed with the record breaking sales of Oceano’s Depths last year, and unable to wait for the bands follow up, Contagion, the label has gone and signed Detroit’s And Hell Followed With ― an almost identical act to Oceano.
So now most of you have left, and those who remain are deathcore fans who appreciated Oceano’s heavier than hell release, the above statement is not meant as detrimental, but more of a complement. Basically, take the heft and brutality of Oceano’s Depths, particularly the title track, add some melodic moments and solos and you have Proprioception.
With a very stout Josh Wichman (Within the Ruins) production, Proprioception delivers an album that meets all the tenets of elite deathcore in spades. That means it’s more death metal than hardcore, resulting in one of the genre’s most impressive efforts ― immediately raising the band’s level of dominance to that of Whitechapel, I Declare War and, of course, Oceano.
After the requisite intro “Mara”, “This Night Is The Coroner’s” shows the band’s take on deathcore with a melodic solo surfacing amid a expectedly rumbling, gang chant filled breakdown. But the following two tracks “Deadworld Reclamation”, and “”In Vastness, I Transfigure” focus on the bands more urgent, death metal chops, while still managing to inject some very cool solo work. And I don’t mean noodly, shredding solos, but darkly evocative, eerie solo work that gives And Hell Followed With a more menacing feel than many of their peers. Of course, the heart and soul of the music are blast beats and breakdowns ― the band don’t disappoint there. With the likes of “Rotting Procession”, the lumbering “Dismantle”, “One of the Swarm” and my personal favorite, “A Welcome Displeasure”, all show a firm, confident grasp of the maligned genre, even if some of the tracks seem to blend at the album’s later stages. Also, the closing track, “Perpetual Abyssma”, is a pure instrumental “look, we can play introspective stuff” -cliché. As for the special edition’s bonus track, “The Greatest Deception”, I question its importance in the grand scheme of things.
It’s fitting the album is called Proprioception (a sort of self-awareness or self-perception) as And Hell Followed With make no qualms or excuses for their chosen style. Instead, they go after it with a rabid precision and tenacity that should see them rise to the top of the deathcore-heap ― be that as it may.
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Haha, man the start of the second paragraph was damn funny…Its hard for me to get into all these bands that have names that start with conjunctions. I know some of them are good and most of the cool names are already taken so they have to get creative, but the whole thing just gets tiresome and pretentious after awhile, sort of like when I get my IT emails from people wanting shit fixed and the email ends in “Please Advise”, I will give these guys a chance and see if they are any good, thanks for the great review Erik!
on Jun 30th, 2010 at 07:24no thanks.
on Jun 30th, 2010 at 14:06If I like hardcore and love death metal, why do I find deathcore so repulsive? Strange… :P
on Jun 30th, 2010 at 16:55Why is deathcore so maligned?
I understand that guitarists tend to look down on the heavy use of breakdowns (why, though?). What other elements of the music turn people off?
on Jul 1st, 2010 at 14:29For me its more about their moronic younger fans and image than the music. I enjoy most deathcore musically, but cannot stand the ninja moshing or gang mentality of some of the straight edge guys.
on Jul 1st, 2010 at 14:41^^^^^^^
on Jul 1st, 2010 at 15:30Erik’s comment pretty much nailed it for me. I like some of the music the metalcore genre has to offer, but some of the “scene” stuff is dumb.
I don’t like deathcore because most of it bores me. There are much more interesting ways of combining hardcore and metal besides mindlessly adding tough guy breakdowns to brutal death. Its trendy image is a big turn off too. Luckily, I’ve never been exposed to any of its fans or I would probably dislike it even more.
on Jul 1st, 2010 at 18:34